Because of her Father and Other Stories
by Gingersnapthesuperhero
Summary: A group of Nalu One-shots
1. Just to start

It is times like this that make her thankful for her father. With her head on Natsu's chest, their legs intertwined, and his arm around her as they lay in her fluffy bed, she tries to imagine what would have happened if her father hadn't been as cruel. She would have stayed home, taken over the business, married a prestigious man, had a couple heirs, and felt horrendously unhappy about it all. Because of her father's neglect, Lucy left home. Because she left home, she met Natsu. Because she met Natsu, she joined the guild. Because she joined the guild, she made so many new friends and finally realized her love for her best friend. Who, is now moving restlessly in the bed. Lucy reaches up to his tan forehead and pushes his unruly pink hair off of it. He cracks one eye open.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" He yawns. She smiles at him and leans in to rub her nose against his.

"I love you." She whispers. He sighs happily into her touch.

"I love you too." He murmurs.

Oh yes, she is very thankful for her father.

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Hey guys, this is my first story and I'd really appreciate it if you would tell me how you felt about it! Also go check out my other stories if you liked this one!


	2. An angry Lucy

Lucy had never been this angry at Natsu. Sure she's been frustrated or mad, but never this angry. Right now, she's surprised there isn't smoke coming from her ears. She is so unbelievably, unconditionally angry. She wants to strangle him, to scream at him. She doesn't even want to scream words.

"Natsu!" She shouts as she stomps up to him. He's leaning on the counter talking to Gray and Erza. As soon as he sees Lucy, the joking grin on his face disappears.

"Lucy, umm I'm so glad to see you! Listen ya know I was just thinking-" He hurriedly tries to fix the mess he knows he has made.

"No, just stop," Lucy says angrily, "You're such an ass. Did you not think I wouldn't care?"

Natsu looks at the ground, ashamed, "Lucy I'm sorry."

"Natsu we're best friends. You said we were a team! We've done every mission together since I got here. And then without warning you just leave? What happened to our team? The worst part is we were going to go on that mission together. You just left without me. Not only did you just leave, but that mission was going to be my entire rent for the next year! So what the hell Natsu?" When Lucy finishes, her voice is so loud that the rafters are shaking and everyone in the guild hall is staring at the two. Natsu looks around slightly embarrassed, but also angry. Why does Lucy get to yell at him when all he was trying to do is keep her safe?

"Maybe if you let me tell my story, you'd understand what happened!" Natsu shouts, getting fired up. "All I wanted was to keep you safe. You picked the most dangerous mission on the board! Everyone was a little worried." Lucy flushes with embarrassment. Does everyone in the guild really think she's so weak? "Why am I getting yelled at because I wanted to keep you safe." Natsu finishes and immediately regrets what he said. He can see the shame on her face. "Lucy, I'm not saying your weak-" Gray kicks him in the calf to shut him up. Lucy is now staring at him with fire in her eyes. She walks slowly up to him until they are standing inches apart.

"You think I'm weak?" She asks, "You're wrong. I am strong. I've lived and kept myself safe for years without you Natsu. I've lived through demons, dragons, and psychotic killers. I've defeated those who I thought were stronger than me and I can protect myself. I don't need you or anyone in this guild doubting me and my abilities." She glares at him for a second before turning and stomping out the guild doors. Natsu takes his first deep breath since Lucy walked in.

"Dude you messed up majorly." Gray chuckles as he slaps him on the back. Natsu slaps his hand away and turns to face him.

"This isn't funny. I think I really messed up this time. I just didn't want anything to happen to her" He sulks at the ground. Mirajane slides over to Natsu and says, "Just apologize Natsu. Tell her you're sorry and explain to her that you don't think she's weak." Natsu nods at her and slowly walks out the guild doors towards Lucy's home.

What seems like minutes later, Natsu reaches Lucy's door. He knocks on the door twice and quick. He can hear her move around and he can smell her, but she doesn't answer the door.

"Lucy please! Answer the door." He knocks on the wooden door again. Natsu hears her walk up to the door and place her hand on the knob, however she doesn't open the door. Natsu leans his head against the door and he too puts his hand on the door knob. He can feel Lucy's warmth threw the metal and she can feel his too, "Please Luce." On the other side of the door Lucy contemplates opening it. The anger she had earlier has melted away and is now replaced by pure shame. She wants to hear what he has to say, but she also doesn't want to give in. Curiosity wins over and she swings open the door. He stumbles slightly into her apartment.

"What do you have to say?" Lucy says as she crosses her arms across her chest, "are you just going to call me weak again?"

Natsu sighs, "Lucy I don't think your weak. You're the strongest person I know."

"Than how come you said the exact opposite in the guild!" She can feel herself getting angry again.

"Because I wasn't thinking!" He shouts

"You never think!"

"Where did that come from?"

"It hurt Natsu! It hurt! What you said hurt me!" She screams. She doesn't even realize she's crying until she tastes the salt from the tears on her tongue. Natsu stops everything as soon as he sees the tears. He walks up to her and wraps her in a hug. She struggles for a second, but soon relaxes and continues to cry into his shirt.

"Lucy, Lucy I promise I didn't mean to hurt you," he says as he strokes her hair. "The reason I left without you is the fact that I was afraid. You're my best friend and I want you to be happy! Lucy you've been through so much, but you're still so happy and positive. I don't want you to lose that. The mission would have taken that from you. It almost took it from me. The only reason I'm okay right now is you! You are my positivity, I need you to be happy. And that might be selfish, but you're my friend and you're the one who keeps me happy!" Natsu finishes slightly embarrassed with all he said, but when he looks at Lucy he decides that the embarrassment is worth it. She's smiling up at him the big bright smile that she's known for.

"Sorry for yelling at you." She pulls away and wipes her tears. Natsu Dragneel is the most infuriating person Lucy has ever met, but he is also the kindest and he cares about his friends more than anyone she has ever met. That's why it can be so easy to forgive him and to let go of what he does. Lucy grabs Natsu's hand and pulls him down till his ear is right by her mouth, "Listen you're my best friend too and you keep me happy, so from now on let's do these missions together and keep each other sane okay?" Natsu pulls away and smiles down at her. Lucy is stubborn and Natsu is thickheaded, but they're best friends… That's all that matters.

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I've decided to just put all my Nalu one-shots into here! So I guess here's another one:) I know their personalities are a little different in this one shot than what their real characters are, but it was needed to make the story work. Anyway thanks for reading! Please keep the reviews coming!


	3. Showing his love

Everyone can see it. Erza sees it in his laugh, Gray sees it in the way he carries himself, and Mirajane sees it in the way he looks at Lucy. Natsu is in love. The signs started out small. Natsu would show up at the guild earlier and earlier, and he'd fight with Gray less or when he did do it, it would be when Lucy was there. There were other things too. Like how he started going on team missions with her. Before Lucy came, Natsu only went on duel missions when the master forced him. That's why when he came in with the biggest smile on his face, everyone knew what's up.

"What's got you smirking like that?" Gray asked a very obviously excited Natsu.

"Lucy's coming back today. You know from visiting her father's grave." Natsu couldn't help jumping up and down as he said it. Mirajane watched the conversation from afar and couldn't help but feel a little worried. Lucy might be coming back a little sadder and less excited than Natsu expected.

"Natsu," Mirajane called to him. Natsu bounced over.

"What's up Mira? Do you know Lucy's coming back today?" Mirajane smiled sadly at him.

"Natsu you do know that this is going to be tough on her right. She may not be as excited or happy when she gets back as you are." Mira tried to tell him softly. She knows Natsu isn't an idiot, so she isn't surprised when she sees the excitement slowly start to fade.

"Oh you're right, I didn't think about that." Natsu says as he walks back towards the guild doors.

"Where are you going?" Mirajane asks him.

"I'm going to cheer her up." He says smiling softly.

Lucy's feet began to hurt around the third mile and now, around the fifth, she's exhausted. Today has been tiring enough without the walking. However when she got off at the train station hours ago, she hadn't been ready to go home or back to the guild. She bought some food, looked at clothes and books, and just walked around. Now after some thinking and possibly some tears she's ready to go home. She walks up her apartment building steps with heavy feet and a heavy heart. When she reaches her room, she is surprised to find the door open.

"_Did someone break in?"_ She fears. She pulls out Virgo from her key ring and holds her up just in case. She walks into the room with the key pointed like a knife.

"If someone is in here… I've got a celestial spirit key and a knife." Lucy warns with a shaky voice, but her fears withdraw when a pink haired boy comes out from around the corner.

"It's just me! Put away your weapons." Natsu smiles sarcastically.

"Oh it's just you. Listen, I'm happy to see you, but I'm not really in the mood to-"

"I'll be out of your hair in ten seconds. Just let me show you this." Natsu begs.

"Ok," Lucy says, "lead the way." Natsu grabs her hand and first drags her to her bathroom.

"First you'll bathe in this amazing bath I made you. I even put in some good smelling stuff." Lucy's mouth drops open. The bath looks so warm and inviting and he even put books next to it for her to read while she's in there. He pulls on her arm again and leads her to the kitchen. "Next I made you stir-fry with rice, chicken and, vegetables." Lucy walks over to the pan and sniffs. The amazing smell relaxes the tense muscles in her shoulders. "I even bought rocky road ice cream for dessert." Natsu smiles at her and Lucy smiles back. "And finally," he says dragging her to her bedroom, "I washed and dried your blankets, so there warm and clean. And I got you knew ink to write with in case you want to do that." Natsu drops her hand and moves to the center of the room. Putting his hands on his hips he asks, "Do you like it?" Lucy is so flabbergasted that for a second she can't speak.

"Like it?" She says, "I love it!" She smiles so brightly that her face muscles hurt. "I can't believe you did this. It's absolutely amazing! Thank you!" She runs over and hugs him. Natsu buries his head in her hair.

"I just want to make you happy." He doesn't have to say anymore for her to know this is about visiting her father's grave today.

"I am Natsu, I'm so happy." She says. He pulls away from her.

"Well I should leave. You enjoy everything." He walks away running a hand through his hair.

"Natsu, wait," Lucy says. She walks over and kisses his cheek, "Thanks again. I'll see you tomorrow." Natsu's face goes bright red. He turns and walks towards the door again. He doesn't want her to see how flustered that made him.

"Yep, yep see you then." He shuts her apartment door and leans on it, heart racing. Maybe the reason everyone can see that he likes her is because she likes him just as much.

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Sorry this one took so long. I tried to spend the end of my winter break with my friends, and also was a little to lazy to finish, but I'm back. Here's the third one shot in the... series. Please leave reviews, and give me ideas for the next stories/ One shots. Thanks again!

-Gingersnap


	4. Standard Beach Day

The sun is out full swing in Magnolia today. With the temperature in the hundreds, Lucy decides that it's a great day to head to the beach… or more like the river that also has a sandy place to lay out. She starts walking the ten minutes from her house to the beach, excited since she's meeting Juvia, Levy, and Erza there. She reaches the "beach" sweaty and near death. Erza sees her and waves,

"Lucy, our things are over here. Would you like a water." Lucy huffs out a yes, and sits on her messily laid out towel on the sand. It's her favorite one, yellow with pink flowers. Erza hands her a bottle of water and she guzzles it down.

"Where are the others?" Lucy asks.

"In the water with the boys." Erza replies. Lucy spits out her water.

"Boys? I thought this is supposed to be a girls day!" She stands up to peer out into the water. The waters a little murky since it's a lake, but she can see Levy floating in an inflatable tube with Gajeel next to her doing the same. Farther away she can see Gray and Natsu fighting while Juvia watching Gray with a love longed look.

"It was," Erza says, "but then Gajeel wanted to know where Levy was going and then Grey and Natsu were curious. Now we're here. I'm going in are you coming?" Lucy sighs and pulls her hair up into a lopsided bun,

"No, I'm going to tan." Erza nods then runs towards the water.

"Grey! Natsu! Here I come!" She shouts and terrified screams soon follow. Lucy laughs slightly, puts on her sunglasses, and lays out on her towel. Since she's already in her swimsuit, she's ready to tan.

Not more than ten minutes later she is interrupted by what feels like water droplets falling on her stomach. She opens her eyes and immediately closes them and throws her hands over them.

"Natsu!" She screams. He only laughs. Because of his position, standing up, straddling her waist, if Lucy opens her eyes she'll be staring right into his crotch. She uses her arm to shove his, very muscular, leg and trip him away from her.

"C'mon Lucy," he whines, "come into the water with me." Lucy pulls of her sunglasses and sits up.

"Sure Natsu." She says smiling up at him. He pauses mouth open in preparation to beg, but her easy response surprises him. "What are you staring at?" She ask.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised it was that easy." Lucy rolls her eyes.

"Natsu I'm not some evil, demanding monster. I like to have fun too."

"Yeah, I know. You're great Lucy. I'm just excited." Natsu says smiling. Lucy's face turns crissum.

"Okay well help me up." Lucy sticks her hand out to him, and he pulls her up easily. They stand there for a second holding hands.

"Natsu Come on!" Gray shouts. Natsu starts running pulling Lucy along behind him, but she doesn't mind. She likes the view.

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Hey guys, again sorry for the long wait, and again please review, favorite, follow, and give me prompts for the next chapters. Thanks for reading. Hope you guys have a great rest of your week.

-Gingersnap


	5. Continuation Part 1

Continuation Part 1

For as long as she can remember, he has been there, sitting in the back or across the hall. He sits in the back of the classroom, he goofs off, he's normal. At school his friends call him wild, his enemies call him destructive, and girls call him cute. At home where she sees him from across the hall, his father calls him son and smiles brightly. He is kind, he is calm, and he smiles at her when she sees him. He doesn't do that at school. His personalities might change, but to Lucy, he has always been there, he has always been Natsu. Natsu hasn't been to school in two weeks and now Lucy doesn't know who he is.

"Could anyone give Natsu his homework?" The teacher asks in class on the thirteenth day Natsu hasn't come to school. Lucy glances around and sees that no one is raising their hands. So she does. Which is out of character for her in this class, but no one notice's her. She pretends not to notice them too.

She stands in front of his apartment door. Number 216. Two-hundred and sixteen. Across the hall from her apartment. 215. It's been five minutes since she walked up to his door. If anyone's watching, they must think she's crazy. That's what makes her knock. Twice and quick. No one answers. She suspects he didn't hear her. She knocks three more times. This time she hears shuffling, but no answer. She knocks again, four this time. It sounds and feels like someone's hand is on the door.

Lucy clears her throat, "I-uh brought over Natsu's homework." No one responds, "I'll just leave it here." The door swings open. There stands Natsu. His pink hair disheveled, his eyes crazed, his pants hang slightly off his lean frame and they look wrinkled, he's not wearing a shirt. Lucy blushes.

"Have you seen my dad?" Natsu croaks. Lucy steps back slightly surprised.

"You're dad? Is he not here?" She asks. Natsu shakes his head rapidly, left to right.

"He hasn't been here for fifteen days. No note, no call." Lucy stares into his worried eyes for a few seconds before pushing past him into his apartment

"I'll make some tea."

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So at the top you might notice that it says continuation part 1. This means that I will be continuing this story in other chapters. However that doesn't mean you'll get the next part in the next chapter I post. If at the top it says "continuation part..." that means it is part of this story. Anyway sorry this took so long. Thank you for waiting and for reading my stories! Keep reviewing please!


	6. Writers Block

**I do not own Fairy Tail**

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"URGH" Lucy Heartfillia shouts as she bangs her head into her old mahogany desk. Crumpled papers and pencils poke into her head, but at the moment she's too frustrated to move. Besides she feels like it somehow represents her failing writing career. Two years ago anyone would have found Lucy Heartfillia's name on the bestseller list, as well as in every magazine, and on the first shelf of the book store. She was practically a household name after her romance book for young adults hit the market. There was even talk about the book becoming a movie, but that all faded after her boyfriend or 'inspiration' broke up with her for some D-list actress. The magazines flocked around the drama for about a month, and when they cleared so did Lucy's career.

However now, a year after her second book flopped, Lucy's writers block, among other things, kept her from sending out another book. In addition to the loss of her writing ability, Lucy lost her boyfriend and the income that let her keep her luxury apartment. Lucy felt she'd be lucky to end up in one of those pathetic where are they now things. Lucy could feel the fear of failure bubbling in her stomach. It became more powerful as she thought about the recent letter from her publisher basically telling her, "write a book or your off our list sorry not sorry." She banged her head into the table one more time, knocking her pink pen as well as her late mother's picture onto the floor. Lucy picked up the picture wiping off some of the dust from her mom's face. "Sorry about that mom." Lucy whispers. She shook her head quickly realizing how weird it is to talk to a picture. Standing up, Lucy decides she really needs some air. She quickly slides on her boots over her black leggings and throws a jacket over her over-sized sweatshirt. She grabs her keys and pushes through her door… and into her neighbor.

"Woooaaahhh." He says gripping the door that just rammed against the back of his shoulder. Lucy looked up surprised to see the boy who lived into the apartment next to hers. He smirked at her slightly and Lucy got to see his sharp, pearly teeth.

"Oh! Natsu! Sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention." Lucy laughs putting a hand on top of her blonde hair, a nervous habit. Natsu watches her hand and then looks back down into her cocoa eyes. He could practically feel her nervous energy serging.

"What's got you all weird?" Natsu laughs. Now this is certainly not Natsu and Lucy's first encounter, so Lucy is pretty use to Natsu calling her weird. However that does not mean that something behind her right ear twitched whenever he calls her that. Instead of kicking him where it hurts, Lucy laughs.

"Oh you know working."

"So writers block?" Natsu asks. She had told him about the struggles of a writer multiple times.

"You could say that." Lucy nodds. She couldn't help staring up at Natsu's salmon colored hair that brushes against his forehead out from underneath his beanie.

Natsu shakes his head, "Listen, I was going to go for a walk so unless you have something you have to do, you could come with me?" He smiles brightly at her, looking like a goofy dork. Lucy could feel herself blushing. She felt a sudden urge to just explore and go on adventure with her strange neighbor… Weird.

"I'd love to go with you! I was just going to go on a walk anyway!" Now Natsu blushes.

* * *

Twenty minutes and a mile later, Natsu and Lucy come across a bench and sit to rest. They had talked about everything from his peculiar blue cat to her awkward dog, but now they landed on Lucy's writer's block.

"My deadlines in a couple weeks and I have nothing." Lucy couldn't help but wallow in self pity.

"Well," Natsu says, "It sounds like you might be scared."

"Of what?" Lucy asks incredulously.

Natsu chuckles, "Probably failure or maybe the idea that you could lose everything again." Natsu stares up at the sky and Lucy has to think about how he could go from being an immature goof to the deep boy in front of her. Lucy sighs.

"I am scared. At least a little, but I love writing. It felt so good when my first book came out as such a big hit, now I'm just hoping for one fan." Lucy admitted.

"Well you'll have me." Natsu says proudly, "I really like your first two books!"

"You read them?" Lucy raises an eyebrow. Natsu fakes being offended

"You don't believe me? Do I not seem smart to you?" Lucy gave Natsu a slight shove, "but really as soon as you moved in, I read them. I had to know why you got famous for writing them. And believe me I found out why pretty quick. They're both super good. I like how the first ones more about her and his relationship, but the seconds more about them separately." Lucy felt her throat tighten slightly. It has been so long since anyone has complimented her. She feels the familiar feeling a pride swell in her chest.

"Thank you Natsu. Really, I don't know if you know how much that meant to me." She squeaks out. Natsu blushes and then smiles widely down at her. In his chest he can feel pride in himself, and in her. He can also feel something stronger growing in his heart, but he trys to squish it down. _It's too early for that._ He forces himself to ignore it. Natsu shakes his head slightly, letting more salmon hair fall from his beanie.

"You should write about an adventure between two people who love each other." Natsu offers as he picks up a piece of her golden hair and twirls it between his fingers before dropping it and putting his hand into his jacket pocket. Lucy feels a click in her head as an idea forms. She jumps up suddenly, making Natsu jump in surprise.

"Natsu, that's a perfect idea!" She grabs his hand. The rough surface of his hand feels familiar. Like home. Lucy turns quickly so he wouldn't be able to see her cheeks redden. "Come on! We need to get home." The run away laughing. An idea forming in her head. An idea forming in his heart.

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I am honestly so sorry that it took this long. Like Lucy, I have been suffering from terrible writers block. Anyway I hope this is good and since my school years ended I should be able to post more. No promises though. So again, leave reviews!

~Gingersnap


	7. Natsu's Ballet

**I do not own Fairy Tail**

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"She's here again." Lisanna, Natsu's friend and fellow dancer whispers to him as they stand off to the side of the stage, waiting for their cue. Natsu glances out into the large crowd. He covers his eyes to fight of the lights and sees her sitting front row. Her blonde hair up in a high bun with pieces falling out onto her tan shoulders, her long silky black dress has a cut running up the side that shows her thigh, her legs are crossed, and she fiddles with a rolled up ballet program in her hands. She's been here for every opening night of Natsu's shows since his first main role (the Nutcracker). However he has no clue about her name or who she is. He just knows that she's beautiful and that after every show, when they bow, he sees her crying as she claps enthusiastically.

"She has to be rich to be able to afford coming here so often." Natsu responds to Lisanna. Lisanna laughs

"Of course that's what you have to say. I think it's obvious that she's here for you. She's always watching for you." Natsu just shrugs as the lights dim, the signal for him and Lisanna to go on stage.

The show ends in an intense last dance number. Natsu twirls his way to the front of the stage to bow gracefully. He looks up from his bow to see the the girl. She stands clapping so hard Natsu believes he can hear her over the rest of the crowd. For a second their eyes meet. Her beautiful brown eyes shine with tears. In one glance he can feel her overwhelming happiness in this moment. It's so infectious that he smiles brightly. He keeps smiling even after he leaves the stage.

An hour later, Natsu leaves the dance studio. He changed out of his tights and is now wearing a pair of loose dark jeans, a red v-neck, and his sneakers. As the door to the back of the theater shuts, he looks up to notice the beautiful, blonde girl sitting on the bottom of the concrete stairs outside the studio. She has her elbows back on the stair behind her. More hair has fallen out of her bun and she still wears the fancy dress from earlier. He approaches her slowly.

"Uhhh whatcha doing?" Natsu asks. She looks up at him slightly startled. A slight blush forms on her uncovered shoulders.

"Oh uh, hi!" She says, "Sorry, I'm just waiting for my ride." She looks back down at the ground. Natsu looks up at the sky, realizing how dark it is.

"I'll wait with you" he says chivalrously before blushing and grabbing the back of his flaming neck. "I mean since it's so dark." She doesn't say anything but scoots over. He sits next to her his long legs reaching on the step below where her legs stop.

"I'm Lucy." He looks over at her. Her voice sounds so kind to him. And Lucy is a gorgeous name. A gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl. He turns his eyes to look straight forward

"Natsu." He bows his head slightly at her. He sees her smile from the corner of his eye. "So, why's your ride so late?" he asks.

"My father had a work emergency he had to leave for." She shrugs.

"But he just left you hear?" Natsu thinks that's very ridiculous.

"His work is very important to him." She sounds like she's used that excuse before, but Natsu knows enough to drop it. He searches his mind for a different topic, but luckily she finds one first.

"I've seen you dance so many times. Every time more beautiful than the last. Today was amazing." Lucy says her big brown eyes grow even bigger with her excitement. Natsu turned his body so he could look at her better.

"Thank you." His hands begin to sweat.

"I know you probably get that all the time, but I just wanted to let you know that watching you is like watching a painter. It's like seeing a real life piece of art develop in front of you. The way your body moves like a paintbrush and how you leave your mark wherever you go. It's beautiful." She finishes with her head tilted up so she can look at the stars. Natsu's face feels like it's on fire and his heart feels like it's beating too fast.

"I've never heard someone describe something so beautifully. You have to be an artist too." He tells her. She laughs slightly.

"No, no, not me." He stares at her for a second growing his confidence.

"I've seen you here before many times. I started to wonder about the gorgeous girl in the front row and who she is. I always would see you with tears in your eyes after every performance and it made me think, 'if I can give at least one person in the crowd such a reaction that they tear up, then I am dancing like I wanted to as a child.' So I think I need to thank you for allowing me to reach my childhood dream, and for letting my dancing impact you in such a way." Natsu finishes his short speech and is surprised that something so intelligent and so filled with feeling came out of his mouth. If she could make him do that then she must be dangerous. Instead of fearing her though he looks straight at her and she stares back. The top of her cheeks red with blush. For a moment Natsu thinks they might kiss, but the sound of a car pulling up shakes them from their trance. Lucy stands up quickly. Natsu wobbles to meet her.

"Until I see you next." She leans onto her tiptoes to lightly kiss his cheek. Natsu feels her soft lips brush him. She turns and stumbles quickly to the fancy car. Opening the door fast and falling in. Natsu laughs heartily and she turns to glare at him. She shuts her door while still looking at him.

"Goodbye weirdo!" he shouts. The car drives away, but Lucy's window rolls down and her slim hand flies out to wave at him. He waves back at her and whispers to himself, "until next time indeed."

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Hey guys! I hoped you liked this latest addition. I hope to be able to upload more consistently from now on! Leave comments and if you want me to do a specific AU let me know! Also **you should read my other story Broken Down. **It is another AU about Natsu and Lucy, but will be a continued piece. Thank you for reading!

~Gingersnap~


	8. Doctor Love

"Doctor Heartfillia, you're needed in room 202." Lucy turns to see her best friend Levy standing with a clipboard in her hand. Levy's petite frame is almost swallowed by her huge white coat, but the look in her eye tells everyone she knows what she's doing. Levy pushes up her glasses. Lucy chuckles slightly at Levy being formal and calling her by her last name.

"I'm on it Doctor McGarden."Lucy salutes and Levy giggles into her elbow.

"Here's the patient's info. Good Luck he's fiery." Levy hands Lucy the clipboard and then walks down the opposite hall. She waves at Lucy before she turns the corner. Tonight Lucy is working the E.R. however, in Magnolia Medical, the E.R. is usually pretty bland. A cut here, a swallowed toy there. The worst thing Lucy has ever seen in the E.R. was a stab wound from a pair of scissors. Most of the nights Lucy does stitches. She's become so good at doing them that most times people can leave the E.R. minutes after they arrive. Despite how boring the E.R. is, Lucy always makes sure her stitches are precise and clean and never slacks off, but that just might be her personality. Lucy makes it to room 202 in time to see the nurse working this area leave in an aggravated huff, mumbling obscene words as she went. Lucy entered the room and immediately understood why. An empty I.V. bag lay on the floor, the (unused) bed pan is shoved halfway out the window, the pillow is shredded with feathers stuck everywhere, and in the center of the room stands an almost naked man. His hair is bright pink and it matches his underwear, which is the only thing he has on. He's turned away from and leaning heavily onto one of his legs. Lucy so she can't see his face, but she can tell from his back that he is very muscular. And very tall. And very upset. He looks like he's about to shake out of his skin. Lucy look down at the clipboard to find his name.

"Mr. Dragneel," She says, "Can I ask you what you're doing?" The man, Natsu, whips around quickly. He looks surprised to see another person.

"Didn't I just send the last nurse running? Leave before I do the same to you." Lucy can't help but laugh. Reallly? Who does this guy think he is?

"Mr. Dragneel-"

"Natsu." He interrupts.

"Natsu, I'm just wondering what's got you rattled like a rattlesnake?" She says actually concerned. He smirks at her simile.

"I don't like hospitals."

"That's understandable." She nods. This reminds Lucy of trying to coax her dog out from under the bed during a thunderstorm. "Hospitals can be scary, but I'm not. Why don't you sit on the bed and I can figure out how to help you." Natsu glares at her for a few seconds before relaxing and trudging to the bed, still favoring one leg as he walked. On his way he picks up a feather from the ground.

"Sorry about the mess." He mumbles before sitting on the bed. Lucy pulls up a chair and sits across from him

"It's okay. The other day there was this little kid who totally ripped apart his whole mattress. Like down to the springs. You could see almost all the coils. There was bedding everywhere. It was a complete disaster. I still don't know how he did it." Lucy finishes out of breath. Natsu chuckles.

"You talk a lot." He observes. Lucy sits back, a little shocked that he would say that, "It's not a bad thing though." He quickly covers. Lucy straightens her doctor's coat.

"I don't normally talk this much. I guess there's something about you that makes me comfortable." Lucy mused. Natsu looked down at his lap to hide his blush. Lucy shakes herself slightly, "So what seems to be the matter." Natsu pulls up the left leg of his swishy pants. For the first time Lucy notices a huge bandage covering his calf. The bandages are soaked with blood. She stands up quickly becoming the doctor she had trained for years to be. "How did this happen." She immediately started to unravel his bandages. Natsu hissed in pain.

"Well there was this huge douche at the bar and he was doin lots of annoying crap," Natsu hisses as Lucy touches a particularly sensitive spot, "he said mean things about my hair, he was wasted, and he kept touching girls who didn't like it. So I fought him. He pulled out this huge ass knife and cut me with it. No big deal though because I still beat his sorry ass to a pulp." Under any other circumstance Lucy would have laughed at his story, but with a gaping wound to deal with there wasn't much time for humor.

"Nurse Juvia, I need some assistance in here please." Lucy yells out as calmly as possible. Juvia walks in slowly fearful of Natsu's fury, but notices Natsu's leg and jumps into action.

"What do you need Doctor?"

"Call an anesthesiologist and book an OR quick. It doesn't look like it hit an artery but there's a lot of blood and possible injury to the bone so we need to operate stat." Lucy says trying to examine Natsu's leg right as he rips it from her grasp. He groans in pain. Lucy's head whips up so she can yell at him, but she stops when she sees the fear filling his eyes.

"Operation?" He says shakily, "I knew I shouldn't have come here I will not be operated on." Natsu's starting to turn a sickly white. Lucy thinks, she knows she can't just put him under, that be a lawsuit waiting to happen, but he needs this surgery. It could be infected or the bone could have splintered. She takes a deep breath.

"Natsu, I have performed hundreds upon hundreds of surgeries. Yours is simple and will be an in and out kind of you don't have this surgery something serious could happen and if that happens that nasty guy at the bar would be the actual winner of the fight. An asshole like that can not win against a good guy like you right? I promise to do everything I can to heal you, not only because as your doctor that's my job, but also because you are a nice person Natsu. So what do you say?"

"You'll be doing the surgery the whole time?" He asks. Suddenly the muscular man in front of Lucy disappears and instead she sees a timid little boy. She grabs his hand. Its strong and tough, but bruised. A hand that's been through things, a hand that fought for what it has. She looks up into his eyes and the boy is gone and back is the man.

"I'll be there every step of the way."

* * *

Ok so I'm gonna apologize about the wait again. I really need to get better at this. Anyway I typed this up pretty quick so sorry if it's not as long as you wanted. I'll try to be posting more, but ya know me. Keep reviewing and giving me suggestions! It really helps!

~Gingersnap


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